Motor-vehicle.



M. TIBBETTS. MOTOR. VEHICLE. APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented May 26, 191% M. TIBBETTS.

MOTOR VEHICLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1911.

119097,??? Patented May 26,1914.

2 SHEETS-SEEET 2.

Wifnesses UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MILTON TIBBETTS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO PACKARD MOTOR CAR COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, .A. CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

MOTOR-VEHICLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1914.

Application filed May 13, 1911. Serial No. 627,028.

ture passing into the cylinders and forming the explosive charge oft-he internal combustion engine with which the vehicle is provided,

Most motor vehicles of to-day are provided with a hand lever and a pedal lever connected to control" the motor throttle valve or other mixture-regulating device. Usually the hand control lever is mounted on the vehicle steering wheel" and the pedal lever is usually mounted for convenient operation, in a vertical plane, by the foot of the operator. Usually also the hand lever is so arranged that it may be set in any desired position to maintain a uniform motor speed, while the pedal lever, which is sometimes termed the accelerator pedal, is arranged to be retracted by a spring so that it will return to normal position when released by the operators foot. In some vehicles also the governor is so connected with the control mechanism that itacts against the opening of the throttle valve, and in practice it is found that thls actionof the governor when working directly against the accelerator pedal causes some fatigue to the operator, particularly in long, hard runs where it is necessary to hold the accelerator pedal down the greater part of the time.

In the state of the art previous to this invention the maximum power of the motor has been obtainable by a single movement of either. the hand throttle or the accelerator pedal and because of this it is found that the motor is frequently abused by a too sud,- den opening of the throttle when starting or picking up.

An object of the present invention is to so construct the accelerator pedal and the guiding means which determines its path of movement that there will be more or less frictional resistance between the pedal and the guide so that this guide will serve to assist in retaining the pedal in its depressed or throttle opening position, thus, to some extent relieving the operator from the fatigue above referred to.

Another object of the invention is to so construct and arrange the vehicle motor control mechanism that something more than a simple depression of the accelerator pedal is required to obtain the maximum motor charge, and in its simplest form it provides fora lateral movement of the accelerator pedal either before or after it has been depressed.

One of the types of internal combustion e'ngines is that in which, in addition to the regular supply of combustible mixture taken in through the carbureter and main intake port, a charge of air or other gas is admitted under pressure, from the crank case or elsewhere, to the cylinders at the end of the intake stroke, this additional charge usually being termed an augmenting charge, and

where air is so admitted, the scheme is car-' ried farther and a similar charge of air is admitted at the end of the firing stroke for the purpose of scavenging. Where such motors are employed on motor vehicles which require extreme flexibility in the motor, this augmenting must be controlled, and usually augmenting is resorted to only when the maximum power of the motor is to be obtained. This control of the augmenting charge may be obtained by shifting the cam shaft which operates the valves for admitting the augmenting charge to the cylinder, or in the case of rotary valves there may be a suitable connection thereto for accomplishing the purpose. A motor of the type referred to is shown in Patent No. 1,012,652 issued December 26th, 1911,

An object of the present invention is to so construct the motor control mechanism of a vehicle motorof the type described in the foregoing paragraph, that the principal motor charge maybe controlled by the siman additional movement, (and in the in- 'vention as illustrated herein this additional movement is a lateral movement), of the accelerator pedal. By such mechanism the augmenting charge is not fed into the motor unawares, as to do so the operator is required to perform another act with his foot beyond what is required to drive the motor vehicle at normal speeds.

Other objects of the invention will appear in connection with the following description and upon reference to the drawings forming a part of this specification and which may be briefly described as follows: 4 Figure 1 is a side elevation and part section of the forward part of a motor vehicle including the motor and its control mecha- 'nism; Fig. '2 is a plan view of what is shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1 showing several positions of the operators foot in connection with the accelerator pedal; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the control devices in a different position, and illustrat ing more of the operating parts of the motor; and Fig. 6 is a'detail section on the line 66 of Fig. s

Referring to the drawings, the motor vehicle dash is illustrated at 10 and the diagonal floor board connected with the dash is shown at 11. The steering column 12 is suitably supported on the dash and the mo tor 13 is arranged forwardly of the dash as usual.

14 is the motor intake pipe or mixture chamber which usually forms the upper part of the carbureter and in this intake pipe there is shown a throttle valve 15 in dotted lines.

The motor illustrated hereinis of that type hereinabove referred to in which a charge of air or other gas is admitted under pressure from the crank case or elsewhere for the purpose of augmenting the regular charge taken in through the main intake valves. In Figs. 1 and 5, 16 are the valve casings for the augmenting valves 17, operated by cams 18 on the cam shaft 19 which is driven from the motor crank shaft by a two-to-one gearing These valvescontrol passages 17% extending from the crank case to the cylinder. If desirable push rods may be usedbetween the cams and the lower ends of the valves to adjust for wear. As shown, these cams18 are each formed with two rises 20 and 21, arranged in different transverse planes and at approximately 180 apart. The rise 20 is adapted to regulate the scavenging action of the valve 17 and the rise 21 is adapted to regulate the augmentin g action of the valve 17. In the above brief description it will be seen that by shifting the cam shaft 19 axially the rise 20 will be gradually thrown out of operation and the rise 21 will be brought into operation, thus decreasing the scavenging and increasing the augmenting action of the valve 17. This axially shiftable movement ofthe cam shaft 19 is accomplished by a push rod 22 yieldably held by the spring 23 in the position shown in Fig. 1 so that the rise 20 is in operative position. The rod 22 is. connected to the shaft 19 by a yoke 22 on the rod and an annular groove 19 in the shaft so that the'shaft may be moved lengthwise by the rod. A movement of the push rod 22 to the right will shift the cam shaft 19 in the samedirection and bring the augmenting rise 21 of each of the cams 18 into action. a

In Fig. 5 the inlet valves 17 are shown, being operated through push rods 17 and cams 1-8 on the cam shaft 19. These cams are made long enough to operate continuously regardless of the longitudinal position of the shaft.

The throttle valve 15 is provided with an operating arm 24 which is connected through suitable rods and springs with a hand lever 25 mounted on the steering wheel 26 and a foot lever or accelerator pedal 27. pivotally mounted in a suitable bracket 28 attached. to the underside of the floor board 11. The hand lever 25 acts through the rod 29 and a worm or other similar mechanism housed within the steering column 12 to reciprocate. the sleeve or collar 30, which, in turn, rocks the bell crank lever 31, the downwardly extending arm 32 of which is formed with a yoke end 33 which embraces the control rod 34. This control rod, as will be seen, forms one of the principal connections between the throttle arm 24 and the hand and foot control levers, and its connection with the throttle arm 24 is through a spring 35 between stop 34 on the rod 34 and a stop 34 on rod connected directly to the arm 24, which spring 35 is strong enough to resist any unbalancing of the throttle valve 15 caused by the passage of the gases around the same.

There are two separated stops 36 on the controlrod 34 and the arm 32 above referred to embracesthe rod between these stops, there being provided a spring 37 at each side of this arm and between it and the stops, whereby the arm is centered between the stops and the throttle valve ma be yieldably opened by the movement 0 the arm 32.

The rearward end of the control rod 34 is bent at approximately right angles or provided with an offset 38 as shown particularly in Fig. 2 and the accelerator pedal 27 by a link 41, preferably through a ball joint I 42 on one of the offsets.

It will be noted that the accelerator pedal 27 is so pivoted in the bracket 28 that it may Lost??? ing in detail, the pedal 27 having trunnions 27 and the bracket 28 having ears .28 in one of which is a hole 28 and the other a slot 28 in which the trunnions are mounted. In dotted lines the lateral positions of the pedal and the trunnions are shown.

The path of movement of the accelerator pedal is governed'by a guide 44 which is L- shape in form and which permits the accelerator' pedal to be first depressed and then moved laterally as shown best in Figs. 3 and 4. Of course, this guide may be otherwise shaped, for instance, so as to permit-the pedal to be moved laterally first and then depressed, but the form shown is best suited to the control connections heretofore de-. scribed. Figs 3 and 4 show three typical positions of the accelerator pedal and are indicated as A, B and C. It will be noted that with the pedal 27 in the position C, which is the fully depressed and laterally moved position, the lever is under the offset portion 45 of the guide 44 and the friction at this point will tend to retain the pedal in .this position. Of course, the tension of the spring 43 is suflicient to withdraw the pedal from position C and bring it back to position A, but obviously it is easier to retain the pedal in position C than in position B.

The accelerator pedal is shown as formed with a flange 46 at its left-hand side and the floor board adjacent the accelerator pedal is provided with ,a toe rest 47 which rises somewhat above the floor board and is provided on its right-hand side with a flange 48. The distance between the flanges 46 and 48 is preferably such that the operators shoe can be placed between them, and preferably also the amount of lateral movement allowed the pedal is such that the operators shoe may be placed between the flange 46 and the main portion of the toe rest 47 as shown in position C in Fig. 3. Thus in position C it will be seen that. it requires practically no effort on the part of the operator to hold his foot between the pedal flange and the toe. rest, and yet, upon his removal of his foot from this position the pedal immediately returns to position A.

The control rod 34 is provided with an adjustable abutment 49 which is adapted to contact with the push rod 22, above described, at about the point in the operation of the rod 34 that the throttle arm 24 reaches its stop 50 which marks the full open-position of the throttle valve 15. By means of the spring connection 35, the rod 34 may be further moved to shift the push rod 22 and its cam shaft 19 while at the same time retaining the throttle in wide open position.

The governor 51 which is shown as of the hydraulic diaphragm variety, is connected with the throttle arm 24 by a rod 52, its action being to tend to close'the throttle as the motor speed increases, thus acting directly against the opening movement of the control rod 34.

The operation of the mechanism may be briefly stated as follows: The throttle may be set in any desired position by the hand lever 25 acting through the various described connections including the arm 32 acting to compress one or the other of the springs 37 and thus moving the control rod 34. In this connection it may be stated that the spring 43 is preferably a light one so that it will not seriously affect the opening of the throttle valve by the. hand lever 25. From the position in which the throttle valve is set by the hand lever 25 as above stated, it may be further opened by a depression of the accelerator pedal 27 to the position shownin dotted lines in Fig. 1 where it will be seen that the accelerator pedal is fully depressed, the throttle is wide open and the abutment 49 has just reached the push rod 22. This position of the parts is illustrated in full lines in Fig. 2. In full lines in Fig. 5 and in dotted lines in Fig. 2 the accelerator pedal is shown as moved to its lateral position whereby the offsets 38 and 40 cause a further forward movement of the control rod 34 and compression of the spring 35, and a similar forward movement of thepush rod 22 and its connected cam shaft 19. This latter movement of the control rod 34 brings into action the augmenting means hereinbefore referred to and gives the motor its maximum charge.

It will be understood that the push rod 22 or its equivalent may be connected with any other mixture controlling mechanism v and is not limited to the augmenting type of motor described herein. It will also be understood that various other features of the inyention may be modified and changed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus-described my invention, what with the motor intake pipe, the throttle 1 therein, and another motor control means, of a control pedal mounted on the vehicle for depression and for lateral movement,

connections between said pedal and said throttle, and means in said connections and controlled by said pedal in its lateral movement for operating said other motor control means.

3. In a motor vehicle, the combination with the motor thereof and a plurality of its con trol mechanisms, of an operating lever mounted for movement in two distinct planes, and means connecting said lever and said mechanisms and adapted to cause the operation of different mechanisms by the movement of the operating lever in its different planes.

l. In a motor vehicle, the combination with the motor thereof and its control mechanisms, of an operating lever mounted for movement in two distinct planes, and connections between said control mechanism and said operating lever, the parts being so ar ranged that the movement of said operating lever in one plane operates certain of said control mechanisms and its movement in another plane operates certain other control mechanisms.

5. In a motor vehicle, the combination with a motor control pedal mounted for depression and for lateral movement, of a foot support mounted adjacent said pedal and arranged to be engaged by the foot of the operator simultaneously with said pedal,.and a flange on the non-adjacent edges of both said pedal and said foot support for positioning the foot on these members, said pedal and foot support being so related that the operators foot can be placed between the pedal flange and said foot support when said pedal has been moved to its lateral position.

6. In a motor vehicle, the combination with a motor control pedal mounted for depression and for lateral movement, of a guide for said pedal adapted to prevent lateral movement of said pedal'at all times except when the pedal is in its fully depressed posit-ion.

7. In a motor vehicle, the combination with a motor control pedal mounted for depression and for lateral movement, of a guide for said pedal adapted to prevent lateral movement of said pedal at all times except when the pedal is in its fully depressed position, and a spring for returning said pedal to its non-depressed position.

8. In a motor vehicle, the combination with a motor control pedal adapted-for reciprocation in a vertical plane and for latof said eral movement, of a guide for said pedal adapted to prevent lateral movement thereof except when the pedal is at one end of its vertical path of travel.

9. In a motor vehicle, the combination with the intake pipe-of the motor, the throttle valve therein, and means for varying the mixture supplied to said motor, of a cont-r01 pedal adapted for movement in two planes, and means connecting said control pedal and said throttle and said mixture varying means.

10. In a motor vehicle, the combination with the motor intake pipe, the throttle valve therein, and means for augmenting the motor fuel supplv, of a motor control lever having two distinct paths of movement,'and means connecting said lever to said throttle valve and augmenting means whereby the movement of said lever in one of. its paths operates said throttle valve without affecting the augmenting means, and the movement of said lever in its other path opcrates said augmenting means.

11. In a motor vehicle, the combination with the motor having means for controlling the mixture supplied thereto, of a control rod, operating connections from said rod to said means, a control lever mounted for movement in two distinct paths, and means connecting said-lever to said control rod whereby the movement of said lever in one of its paths causes a certain movement of said control rod and the movement of said lever in its other path causes a further movement of said control rod.

12. In a motor vehicle, the combination with the motor having means for controlling the mixture supplied thereto, of a control rod, operating connections from said rod to said means, said control rod having an offset therein, a control lever mounted for depression and for lateral movement, said W. H. FINGKEL, Jr., 7 RICHARD E. MARSTON. 

